


Fallout: Portal

by canyoubelievesomeone



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas, Portal, Portal (Video Game), Portal 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-21
Updated: 2015-01-21
Packaged: 2018-03-08 12:44:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3209669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canyoubelievesomeone/pseuds/canyoubelievesomeone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chell is released from Aperture Science only to find herself in the world of Fallout.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fallout: Portal

Chell walked through a sun-kissed field. Everything about this place was new and beautiful. The sun was so overwhelmingly warm and she tried gazing towards it only to find herself growing teary-eyed from its brightness.

She wasted no time in running.

She ran for as long as she could, still not believing that she was actually free.

 _Is this real?_ She kept asking herself. _Or is this another test?_

She kept expecting the ground to crumble out from under her feet and swallow her back towards Glados. Or white walls to come up and seal her into another testing area. Or neurotoxin gas to come out of the flowers around her.

Freedom. That was just an entirely new concept for her. It was difficult to remember ever even experiencing the feeling before.

A breeze came in, tugging at her hair and her dirty shirt. The air felt so unbelievably clean up here.

Chell felt her lips move into a smile, something she hadn’t done in such a long time.

She continued running, still desperately trying to outrun the fear that she’d be trapped again. How long would it take to outrun that feeling? Ten miles? More?

_I’m safe now. Aren’t I?_

 

It was a month later and Chell still hadn’t found any sign of civilization. There were vacant cities, falling apart like the lower levels of Apature Science.

Chell ate very little, finding canned food amongst the remains and finding food still somehow growing in the fields.

She was becoming weary. This didn’t seem like freedom to her. In fact, she felt lonely, almost the same kind of loneliness she had when she was trapped.

But now she had neither Glados nor Wheatley to speak to. Well, _listen_ to. She could never actually speak to them. That was what they seemed to like most about her. They could insult her or ramble on without worrying about her talking back or interrupting.

The worst thing about looking for humanity was that she couldn’t even call out to anyone who might be listening.

 

It was late one night when she heard the clicking. There was a creature nearby and it seemed to be gravitating towards her.

She gasped as it flew at her, a dark shadow in the night, but loud shots rang through the air and the creature landed on her, bleeding out from its bullet wound.

Chell shoved the creature off, still horrified. It looked like an ant, but much larger and disgusting.

“Girl, you alright?”

Chell looked up and saw a human jogging towards her, lantern in one hand, shotgun in another. She rose to her feet and stepped back warily.

The woman looked rugged, but not much older than she was. Her red hair was cut short and there were numerous scars along her arms and freckled face. She was covered in dirt and her thin clothes were threadbare. In truth, she probably didn’t look much worse than Chell did though.

“Hey, I’m not gonna hurt you. Name’s Cassidy, alright? I just wanted to see if you were alright. That fire ant almost got you good,” the girl explained.

Chell slowly nodded.

The girl gave her a small smile and she asked, “What are you doing out on your own though? ‘S’not safe travelin’ around these parts. You don’t even have a weapon on ya.”

Chell shrugged, not sure how she was going to communicate with this woman.

“Well, I have a caravan travelin’ down to New Vegas. You wanna join me?”

She wasn’t sure where New Vegas was, but Cassidy didn’t seem like a malicious person. Maybe this would be a good thing.

She finally nodded and Cassidy smiled, telling her. “Come along then. You don’t talk much do you?”

Chell gestured to her mouth and shook her head, hoping to get the point across.

The other woman squinted at her. “You _can’t_ speak, can you? Well, don’t worry about that. I’ve got some pen and paper somewhere in the caravan. We’ll get some communication going before long.” She patted her arm. “You’re not from one of those underground vaults, are you? Where all those people went to after the nukes went off?”

_Nukes?_

Chell shook her head, though she wasn’t sure if that was the case. Perhaps she _was_ from one of those “vaults” and Glados was meant to protect her and all the other humans a long time ago . . .

“Well, that’s good. People who come up from those vaults are usually more confused than most. Gotta explain every damn thing to them. Listen, I dunno where you came from or why you look the way you do, and you don’t ever have to explain that to me, but a mute girl ain’t got no power in this world. Don’t take this the wrong way, but a lot of people would take advantage of the fact that you can’t talk. I don’t like it one bit, but that’s just the way this world works. Therefore, if you wanna help with the caravan and pull your own weight until we reach New Vegas, I’ll offer safety and maybe even a little money. After we get there, you can choose to stay with me or leave if you’d like. It’s up to you.”

Chell smiled and nodded.

“Alright. Good to hear.”

Chell soon spotted the caravan amongst the field. There were a couple of others behind it in a straight line and people were gathering around, wearing the same strange clothes Cassidy was.

“What’s your name anyway? Can you spell it in the dirt or somethin’ so I can introduce you?” Cassidy asked as they approached.

She nodded and knelt down, spelling out an awkward C-H-E-L-L.

“Chell, huh? Can’t say I’ve heard that name, but it’s decent enough. Let me introduce you then.”

Chell met a number of people then. One of which looked as though he were missing half of his face.

“What’s the matter? Never seen a ghoul?” he snapped at her.

“Hey, lay off, McGuire. I don’t think she has. I found her in the middle of a field and she didn’t seem to even know what a fire ant was. You don’t know what a ghoul is, do you?” Cassidy asked her.

Chell shook her head.

“See? Now, calm down.”

“She’s not gonna take our share of the profit, is she?” another woman, Rachel, inquired irritably.

“No, she’s taking some of mine, alright? Ya’ll are a bunch of unhospitable pigs,” the caravan leader grunted before taking Chell’s hand and leading her away from the fire. “C’mon, you can stay in the last caravan, where I stay.”

Cassidy’s caravan was small. There were boxes in the back of it and Chell wasn’t sure what they were filled with, but she assumed it was just what they were transporting.

Cassidy lit a candle and pulled some scraps of paper and a pencil from under her bed. “Anything you got to say?”

She nodded and took the paper and pencil from her, writing down: _Thank you for allowing me to join you._

Cassidy grinned broadly. “Hey, no problem, kid. This world might be god-awful sometimes, but I believe a little kindness can go a long way. A long time ago, I was drinkin’ my sorrows away in a rathole of a place because my caravan had been attacked on the road. I had nothin’ to my name, really. Then this kid, a curior, helped me get it all back for no reason other than they felt like doin’ some good. Kinda amazin’, isn’t it?”

Chell smiled and nodded.

“Are you tired?”

She nodded again.

“Well, I’ll head out and let you get some rest. You can sleep on my cot over there. Come find me if you need me.”

Chell touched Cassidy’s arm and then she couldn’t help herself. She gave her a full-blown hug.

_I don’t know if this is all another test or if I’m just dreaming, but I don’t care. I’m still living this and this woman has been so kind to me._

“Whoa,” Cassidy muttered, a little thrown off. She wasn’t used to affection and had probably experienced about as much of it as Chell had.

Chell pulled away, went for the paper, and scribbled: _I’m sorry. It’s just been a very long time since I’ve seen another human and an even longer time since anyone has been kind to me. Thank you so much._

“No problem, kid. Just . . . maybe a little more warning before a hug like that?” Cassidy laughed. “Get some rest, alright? And don’t worry about anyone on my crew giving you a hard time. I’ll make sure they don’t.”

The caravan leader walked away, closing the door of the caravan behind her.

Chell fell asleep in Cassidy’s cot not long after. She was finally beginning to feel safe.


End file.
